Pirate’s Pasta

I seem to be on a food related posting kick these days. 

On Sunday we were in the mood for a light dinner and I wanted to actually use some of the food already in my larder so I consulted with my good friend Giada.

Really – we practically know each other:

Since I had most of the ingredients on hand I made Spaghetti alla Pirata with a few modifications.  I don’t have her cookbook Everyday Pasta in front of me so I’ll just give you my version.  And my version is maddeningly vague with amounts since I just sort of eyeballed it.

Toss raw, cleaned prawns with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Let marinate for at least 20 minutes. 

Start the water for angel hair pasta – start it so that it is ready before you start cooking the shrimp.  The shrimp will only take a few minutes to cook.

Chop a clove of garlic (more or less to taste), a shallot, fresh basil.  Cut a basketful of cherry tomatoes in half (erm – I mean cut each tomato in half – a baskets worth).  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add shallot and garlic – making sure the garlic doesn’t brown too much (makes it bitter) – add the shrimp.  When the shrimp is nice and pink add the basil and halved tomatoes and the juice of one lemon – stir together for just a minute and then pour over the cooked pasta. 

Add some shaved Parmesan to it.

Delish.  I served it with dilled green beans.  These beans are the best and it is the easiest thing in the world to make.  You can precook the beans any time and then throw them together at the last minutes so it’s great if you are entertaining. 

I like my bean whole so I just snip off the business end and leave them as is.  Drop them in salted, boiling water and cook for four minutes.  Immediately rinse with cold water.  Just before serving heat up two tablespoons of butter in a saute pan.  I used Pampered Chef dill seasoning but you could make your own (dill, dried onion, garlic) (Pampered Chef is just about the only one of those home parties that I will go to – mainly because of this seasoning) – anyway add about a tsp or so of the seasoning and toss in the cooked green beans – heat through and salt & pepper to taste.

This dinner was so good and so easy I’m making it again tonight.